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Capsule Reviews

Dennis Brown and Deanna Jent suss out local theater

Cryin' Shame There's enough drama, melodrama, sensuality and sheer angst in this tale about life in rural South Carolina in 1985 to fill an entire season of plays. The evening abounds with idiosyncratic characters and strong performances (especially A.C. Smith, whose portrayal of a kindly numbers racketeer provides Cryin' Shame with a moral center), but there's too much story here for one play. Somebody needs to shake playwright Javon Johnson (who also appears in one of the leading roles) and make him understand that his script would be twice as absorbing if only it were thinned down. Produced by the Saint Louis Black Repertory Company through January 30 at the Grandel Theatre, 3610 Grandel Square. Tickets are $25-$37.50 (student rush seats available for $10 ten minutes before curtain). Call 314-534-3810. (Dennis Brown)

Defending the Caveman A sitcom-mentality stage play "experience" without the pesky problems of character relationships or plot. As a play, it's pretty good stand-up comedy -- especially for married couples who embody stereotypic gender roles. The solo character is a married guy trying to defend men from disdain. "It's not that guys are assholes," he explains. "They just come from a different culture." Creator Rob Becker romanticizes cavefolk as a model society: They respected and honored gender differences. Nobody called the cavewoman a bitch, nobody called the caveman an asshole (perhaps because language hadn't yet been invented?). Unfortunately the material doesn't really build. Cody Lyman (from Chicago's Second City) plays the Caveman. Open-ended run at the Playhouse at West Port Plaza, 635 West Port Plaza (second level), Page Avenue and I-270, Maryland Heights. Tickets are $35-$39.50. Call 314-469-7529. (Deanna Jent)

Stones in His Pockets Joe Hickey and Timothy McCracken portray two ambitious extras living the life of O'Riley on a big-budget Hollywood production on location in County Kerry, Ireland. With astonishing dexterity, the two actors also enact thirteen other roles, male and female, old and young, Irish, British and American. No mere gimmick, this, for by evening's end the play makes telling observations about an Ireland whose concept of America is as illusory as a giant image on a silver screen. Marie Jones' script is both amusing and thoughtful, and the delightfully realized production could not be bettered. Produced by the Repertory Theatre of St. Louis through February 4 at the Loretto-Hilton Center, 130 Edgar Road, Webster Groves. Tickets are $13-$58. Call 314-968-4925. (DB)